Media depositories are used to receive media items from a customer. One common type of media depository is a sheet media depository for receiving media items in sheet form (such as banknotes, cheques, tickets, giros, and the like).
Sheet media depositories are used in ATMs and other self-service terminals (such as vending machines, change machines, and the like) to identify and validate deposited sheets.
Some sheet depositories are capable of receiving a bunch of sheets in a loading area and then picking individual sheets from the bunch so that each sheet can be identified and validated individually prior to storage of the validated sheet within the depository. These depositories are referred to herein as “bunch sheet depositories”. Bunch sheet depositories may transport the bunch from the loading area to the picking area, or the picking area may be adjacent the loading area.
It is desirable to provide bunch sheet depositories that can accept a large bunch of sheets. However, when a large bunch of sheets has to be transported to the picking area there is a tendency for sheets within the bunch to splay out prior to reaching the picking area. This makes picking the sheets less reliable.
Furthermore, some customers will only insert a small number of sheets (such as one banknote and/or cheque) into the bunch depository; whereas, other customers will insert the maximum permissible number of sheets (for example, fifty media items) into the bunch depository. It is important to be able to provide an appropriate force on the bunch, regardless of the size of the bunch.